Welcome to Eastside Portland Streetcar!

by Sam

Introduction:

This (unofficial) tour explores the route of Portland’s new Eastside Streetcar. The new Central Loop (CL) will run from SW Market in downtown Portland, along 10th and 11th to the Pearl District, then across the Broadway Bridge to the Eastside. This website highlights interesting things along the route.

Portland became the first city nationally to reinvest in streetcars, on July 20, 2001. The initial 8 mile loop (4 miles in each direction) ran from Portland State University to Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital. A total of 46 stops were located about every 3-4 blocks. In August 2007, passenger service was extended to the South Waterfront District.

Beginning in December, five new streetcars will be delivered to serve the expansion. The system’s existing streetcars were made in Czechoslovakia, while the new ones are being made in Portland by United Streetcar, which is in a good position to serve a growing demand for streetcars throughout the United States. Officials cut one of the original six streetcars to bring it in on budget.

The grand opening and ribbon cutting celebration was September 22, 2012 with Portland Mayor Sam Adams, a strong supporter of the streetcar expansion officiating. He was joined by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici and dignitaries from the Federal Transit Administration, TriMet, Metro, Portland Streetcar Inc., Oregon Transportation Commission, OMSI and Portland State University.

When all the cars are ready to go, streetcar frequency will be about every 18 minutes between 9:30am and 5pm. Streetcar Fare is $1.00, valid for 2 hours on the Streetcar only.

This virtual tour was done just for fun as a private exercise. No money was spent creating it. It utilizes bar codes, called QR codes, that (hopefully) are temporarily located near every TriMet stop. If you snap a picture of the QR code with your phone, it should automatically take you to the page exploring that stop.

Note: Below are two free Microsoft Word documents which you can download onto your phone, tablet or PC. You’ll need both files for the complete tour. The first one is for traveling to OMSI, the second file is for the return trip.